First Day Plans

I think I've got my first day figured out. I'm posting it here so I'll have it for next year. I've decided to mostly focus on get-to-know you activities and classroom procedures.

Here's my plan:

First Ten Minutes

Students fill in their information sheet and fill out a colored index card with their name and birthday. I'll then organize the cards in a file by month and have them ready to display on my Birthday bulletin board at the beginning of every month.

Songs that will be playing in the background: We're Going To Be Friends (The White Stripes), Every Morning (Sugar Ray)


M&M Activity (15 min)
Next we will practice working with a partner and forming groups by doing the M&M activity. I have a questionnaire for students to answer individually that correspond to an M&M color. After students answer their questionnaire, we will form groups of 4 and students will take turns drawing out an M&M and then share the answer that corresponds to the color of M&M they drew. Students eat the M&M's at the end!

Songs that will be playing in the background: Realness of Space (Bob Schnieder), I'm Yours (Jason Mraz)


Syllabus (10 min): I will discuss the rules and procedures portion of my syllabus

Notecard Activity (15 min)1. Each student will be given a blank index card. They will write down their favorite number smaller than 20 and then put a negative symbol in front of their number.

2. Students will circulate around the room with music playing in the background.
As they circulate they will try to shake hands and introduce themselves to as many people as possible. Every time they shake hands with someone, they trade index cards.

3. Every once in awhile I will stop the music and students should freeze and pair up with whoever they are standing next to. While they are standing there, I will give them some kind of directions. Like, "add your two numbers", or "subtract your two numbers", or "find the average of your two numbers."

Music Playing in the background: We are Family (Sister Sledge), What I Like About You (The Romantics), and I'll Be There For You (Theme song from Friends)


Thanks to Jenn from Lil Moptop and Amber Caldwell for the ideas!

Making Connections Through Music

One of my goals this year is to use motivational music to connect with my students. My biggest problem in using music is knowing what is relevant to kids these days and what they would like. I found a great website that has given me all kinds of ideas and exposed me to artist that I would not normally be aware of.

I have been saving the songs I really like into my Edmodo Library for use throughout the year. I may have something like "Tuesday Tunes". I'm not really sure how I will use the music. The slower pace tempo songs, I am dowloading onto my Itunes for a playlist of music to listen to during group activities and classwork time.

But here is a question for you techies out there. I have found this very inspirational song by Eminem that I would like to play but it contains two MF's towards the end of the song. Is there anyway to play this You Tube Video and Bleep the MF's? If not, I guess I'm gonna have to scrap the song.

Ask Three Before Me

Are you ever exhausted by the end of the day by the endless questions asked of you? I'm not talking about questions having to do with content. I'm talking about things like, "Do we have homework today?", "Do we have a quiz today?", "What's the date today (even though it is written on the board)?, "What's for lunch today?", "Why do we have to learn this today?" And on and on and on.

I was joking around with some of my colleagues about the exhaustion you feel at the end of the day and how you just don't even feel like talking for the first hour or so when you get home. For me, I usually just sink into a chair with a nice cold beverage and veg out by reading blogs and catching up on Facebook. Unfortunately, if you have children to take care of, this just isn't possible.

Anyway, one of my fellow teachers spoke up and said, "I don't have this problem." I said what do you mean? Your kids don't ask you millions of silly questions everyday? She said "No, I have a rule." She said her rule is "Ask 3 before me." She requires her students to ask three other students before asking her any question.

I'm going to try this rule this year. I plan on making a big poster to remind students to "Ask three before me." It will probably take me a while to break the habit of answering every single question that is asked of me, but I'm going to give it my best shot!

First Week of School Part One

Planning for a successful first week of school can be challenging even for experienced teachers. You can plan every last detail, activity, and lesson only to find your plan goes to hell in a handbag the minute it encounters 150 teenagers and a schizophrenic administration that decides to change bell schedules, call impromptu class meetings, or otherwise generally disrupt the learning process. The paperwork and record keeping that goes along with the first week can be overwhelming when you are busy trying to learn names, and organize your own classes. The best we can do is decide what our goals are for the first week of school, plan more activities than you'll really need, and then hope/pray for the best.

One of the most effective things that I did last year was send a document home on the first day called "Algebra I First Assignment". This document outlined my expectations for the class to parents and students. The front had a portion for the parents to fill out and the back has a portion for the students to fill out. The wording is rather strong as I lay out my expectations for the students, but at them same time I try to convey what I will do to help students to be successful in my class.

At the end of the year, many of my students come up to me and say that they were so scared of me the first day of school and thought I was going to be a really "mean" teacher (mean to them means strict). They said that they were surprised to find out how much they enjoyed my class and they wished they could have me again for Geometry.

I really think that setting up very high expectations for behaviour and work during the first week and then being consistent and brave enough to follow through with your policies, leads to an environment where learning can take place everyday. I am not saying my classes are perfect every single day, but they know I will deal with disruptions swiftly and fairly.

If your school allows it, having a policy for late work and sticking to it can really cut down on your stress levels at the end of the grading period. In the old days, I never accepted late work in math class. Nowadays, most schools would never allow this. Our district policy says we must take late work up to two days late, but most teachers will accept any work from that grading period up to the last day of the term. I strictly stand by the no more than two days late policy. It is hard for some students who are used to putting off all their work until the 11th hour, but after they fail that first term, they usually see that I mean business. While my colleagues are struggling under mountains of grading during the last week of the term, I am able to eat lunch, relax, and leave as soon as the school day ends without taking home extra work. I do not spend hours gathering up "missing" work for students who are failing. I simply tell them that it is too late for me to take their late work and the only thing they can do to bring up their grade is to retake any quiz or test they failed.

If you'd like a copy of the assignment I send home of the first day of school, I will upload it here. Please feel free to use it or change it to meet your needs.



Algebra I First Assignment

CAMT 2011

Just got home from my math conference (CAMT). I am exhausted from a five hour drive, but my heading is swimming with all the great ideas that I got this year and that I hope to implement. I went to several great sessions and several so-so session, but none were downright terrible so I feel the trip was definitely worth the effort I put into getting there.

I had two sessions that I especially enjoyed. The first one was called Algebra I and Algebra II Hodgepodge and it was put on my one of my dear readers! You can see her non-math blog here. She had so many wonderful ideas that I don't even know where to start. I think I might save them and share them as I try them. That way I can get pictures, give detailed instructions, and then reflect on how the activity turned out.

I also enjoyed another session put on by a teacher who has been a faithful attendee of my CAMT sessions over the years. This teacher goes by the name of Gdawg and he has a talent to put math concepts to rap and song form. I was so impressed by Gdawgs passion for teaching low-income, high risk students. It was so evident in his session how much he truly cares for the kids. He took one of the ideas I shared a few years ago at CAMT and put it into video form.



He also has other math DVD's which you can check out at here

If you attended CAMT, would you consider leaving me a comment. You don't even have to give your name, but I'd love your feedback!

Early Morning Blues

I teach Math Models 1st period. I started out with 24 students. I am down to 19. Several have dropped out of school, a couple left to be "home schooled", one ran away from home and landed in Wisconsin with relatives, and one is now homebound because of severe anxiety issues.

Even though 19 are enrolled, on most days there are just 10-11 students present. Where are the other 8 or 9? Who knows. Most tell me, they just can't wake up that early so they show up for school during 2nd or 3rd period. Others don't bother with an excuse.

The state says these juniors, who can't be bothered to show up for their first period class must all take and pass algebra II next year. Yeah right. Make no mistake. Their lack of success in algebra II will have nothing to do with their mathematical ability and everything to do with their lack of perserverance.

On the bright side, I have about 5 shining stars in this class who are absolutely amazing math students and even better human beings. They are a joy to teach and the reason I look forward to this class every day.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Overheard in the hallway on Friday:

Girl #1: So you're half-and-half cuz your mom's white, right?

Girl #2: What? I'm not half and half cuz my mom's not white. . . she's FRENCH!